


Strangers

by whimsicott



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Hints of romance is really barely there, It’s very G, M/M, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 04:23:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18380873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whimsicott/pseuds/whimsicott
Summary: In all sense of the word, Lucio is a stranger to Sandalphon, but he is a stranger who’s never failed to unsettle him.





	Strangers

This isn’t the first time he’s stepped into _Paradise Coffee_ , but Sandalphon still can’t wrap his head around his presence. 

In all sense of the word, Lucio might as well be a stranger to him. They barely talk after their first meeting, and the little words they do exchange to each other had primarily been typical customer-barista stuff. Of course, part of that comes from Sandalphon’s habit of avoiding Lucio as much as possible, busying himself with other customers of his little coffee shop.

But inconveniently, today, there is no one else. The captain had brought a number of the crew out with her on some sort of hunt (for something called _converging rays_ ) and really, eleven in the morning is sort of quiet time for _Paradise Coffee_ anyway, with it being a little late for early morning coffee and a little too close to lunch.

Lucio smiles at Sandalphon as he takes a seat at the counter.

In all sense of the word, Lucio might as well be a stranger to him, but there is no doubt that Lucio’s face is identical to Sandalphon’s predecessor Lucifer and that disturbs the current supreme primarch more than he likes to admit. When Lucio smiles like that however, there is a sense of insincerity to it — setting him apart from Lucifer, who’s always so genuine with his smiles —- but barely helping the turmoiled state of Sandalphon’s heart, which now finds itself drowning in irritation. 

“I’ll have the special today,” Lucio says.

“We don’t have _specials_ ,” Sandalphon sighs. He must’ve told Lucio this many times before. He gesture to a board behind him. “Our menu is right there.”

Frankly, Sandalphon would make coffee to order, as he often would for young members of the crew like Io, but it’s not like he knows Lucio enough to create something just for Lucio. Beside, he has pride in his menu, painted together with the captain, Lyria and Vyrn on a black-coloured board — they’re good, honest coffee with nothing too gimmicky about them, the way Sandalphon likes it and the way he knows work.

“Alright, I’ll have coffee, black. But with milk.”

“That’s not black coffee anymore then,” Sandalphon scowls. “But fine, coffee, black. With milk.”

“Plenty of milk,” Lucio smiles.

Sandalphon rolls his eyes.

But even if it’s for someone who could deeply unsettle him, even if it’s an order as nonsensical as _black coffee with milk_ , Sandalphon still enjoy every step of making the coffee. He had enjoyed shopping for beans with some members of the crew, and now, he’s enjoying grinding them to prepare a drink. There are news, of course, of new skydwellers technology that would make preparing coffee faster, but Sandalphon likes doing it the traditional way — the same way he had made them two thousand years ago in that garden with Lucifer. 

From the way the coffee fills the air around them, from the way Lucio looks at him with those blue eyes — for a second, he’s transported into a scene that no longer exists. For just a second, however, until he snaps back into the coffee house aboard Grancypher, the place where he has decided to make his home, for now.

Where he snaps back to the reality that this man, no matter how alike he looks to Lucifer, isn’t the person he yearns for from the bottom of his heart but a man who for some reason annoys him deeply instead.

Just as he’s about to pour in the milk, however, he has an idea.

Taking a clear glass, he then pours the cold milk into the glass, a move that earns him a curious look from the man across the counter from him.

He serves two drinks to the man with a smug smile he can’t quite hide.

“There you go,” he says, first gesturing to the cup of hot coffee, then the glass of cold milk. “Black coffee with milk.”

Much to Sandalphon’s dismay, however, Lucio’s smile widen instead.

“What a novel idea!” He exclaims happily. “I’ll definitely be back for more.”

A silence falls upon Sandalohon as he watches the Lucifer look-alike carefully pour some of his milk into the coffee, spilling it a little on the little white saucer the coffee is served on. He watches, perplexed, as Lucio sips from the glass first before exploring his coffee.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Sandalphon finally murmurs back in response.

Lucio smiles back, as he holds the cup carefully in his hand, not saying anymore.

 

 

 _The Lucio_ quickly turned into a drink the Grancypher orders. Sandalphon doesn’t know who’s spread the word of it, but he thinks it’s Lucio himself, because this kind of insufferable act seems like something he would do. It’s now up there together with _The Io_ (a tiny, tiny bit of coffee, but with lots of milk and plenty of sugar) and _The Beatrix_ (creamer and sugar), instead of fading into obscurity like _The Katalina_ (don’t ask).

“I told you it’s a novel idea,” Lucio says, his voice all too pleasant for someone who bastardized Sandalphon’s coffee. “Everyone should know about it.”

“You’re doing this on purpose,” Sandalphon grumbles as he serves Lucio with yet another cup of black coffee and a side glass of milk.

“Of course I am,” Lucio replies without missing a beat. “I just said everyone should know about it.”

Deconstructed coffee, some people on board are calling it — apparently, it is a sort of minor trend among Skydwellers in some skydoms, even if it’s relatively unknown in Phantagrande. The idea that this is a _trend_ anywhere at all though, makes Sandalphon shudder a little in its pointlessness.

And Sandalphon finds himself even more frustrated at Lucio for making it some sort of secret menu trend here at _Paradise Coffee_.

It’s not like Sandalphon can’t refuse him service. It’s just that he’s finding, that no matter how angry Lucio makes him, he finds it hard to completely kick him out. He doesn’t think he would mind, of course, if Lucio sees himself out due to his sharp tongue. But none of the words that could leave his lips is akin to telling Lucio to never come back again.

It’s that face, it’s just that face, Sandalphon curses quietly in his mind as he tries to assuage himself. It

He fails, once again, and lets himself go a little by letting a coffee cup clank against another as he puts them in the sink, feeling Lucio’s gaze on him all this time, strange and uncomfortable and foreign, no matter how familiar those blue eyes may seem at first glance.

 

 

Dreams of Lucifer isn’t uncommon for Sandalphon.

Thankfully, they no longer end the way they used to before the fight against Lucilius, with Lucifer’s head in his arms and Avatar rising over a red sky. They’re more pleasant now — coffee that tastes like nothing in a perfect garden. A smiling Lucifer that makes Sandalphon wonder if all this is real, perhaps, and at nights he’s truly meeting the Lucifer who’s actually waiting for him somewhere he’s not able to go home to just yet.

It doesn’t make waking up from them any more pleasant, however.

He’s always a little unsettled at the whiplash — from the garden to his dark room aboard the Grancypher, listening in to the loud snores of the crew member in the room next to him.

This night is no difference.

Sandalphon pulls himself up on his bed, sweat rolling down his neck to gaze outside of his window. A clear night, it seems, with the moon half-full on the sky.

Not too bad for an evening walk.

The Grancypher is familiar to him now. Initially, he had spent a lot of his time cooped up in his room, going out only to make himself some coffee or when the captain requested it of him. But these days, he had found his bearing, finding joy in going to work at _Paradise Coffee_ everyday. While he might not know every corner of the Grancypher, the path from his room to the deck, and that to _Paradise Coffee_ itself is one he can thread effortlessly even with minimal lights.

He takes the night air in upon the empty dock, finding a spot to lean on the railing and look out at the sky around them.

“Sandalphon?”

A voice interrupts.

A familiar voice, one he’s just heard in his dream.

“Luci—,” he starts, the realizes the only person it could be. “Lucio, it’s you. What are you doing here?”

Lucio shrugs. “Same reason as you.”

Sandalphon furrows his eyebrows. “How would you know what my reason is.”

“Can’t sleep... Or something like that,” Lucio says with an annoying smile. Sandalphon scowls in return, but it’s not like Lucio guessed wrong. “Did you dream of him?”

“That’s none of your business,” Sandalphon replies snappily.

“You’re right,” Lucio laughs. “But he’s indeed a lucky man, your Lucifer.”

Sandalphon lets a silence fall between them at those words — and thankfully, Lucio lets it sink in as well.

“I’m not sure about that,” Sandalphon finally mutters quietly.

“Mm, we never are,” Lucio responds easily. “I dreamt of someone important to me too.”

“You?” Sandalphon raises an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Lucio says. “Someone who’s defined my existence for a long time.”

Sandalphon hums noncommittaly. 

Even if he has no intention of prying further than that, this much is a sentiment Sandalphon understands.

He lets Lucio remain by his side on the deck, the quiet hum of the engine filling the space between them, letting them go without words.

 

 

Sandalphon is graced by eye bags the next day as he gets up to open _Paradise Coffee_ , because so it seems, not even Supreme Primarchs are immune to this. 

Lucio meanwhile, looks as if he’s completely fully rested, his tiny wings fluttering happily as he takes his usual seat on the counter.

His usual seat, and then he laughs as he says.

“The usual, please.”

Taking out a plain porcelain cup and a clear glass, Sandalphon once again fights the temptation to chuck them at Lucio’s head.

“I can’t believe you’ve made this a thing,” Sandalphon complains, the words leaving his lips easily.

“I keep telling you, I like your idea,” Lucio tilts his head with a widening smile. “I can’t wait for you to come up with more, Sandalphon.”

The conversation falls to a strangely familiar pace, and despite the crowd that fills the coffee shop, Sandalphon feels like he doesn’t have to use them to run from Lucio this time.


End file.
